Electron valve



April 7, 1942.

E. WINTE R ELECTRON VALVE Filed Dec. 2, 1938 Patented Apr. 7, 1942UNITED- sTATEs P v ELECTRON VALVE Ernii Winter, Budapest, Hungary,assignor to Vereinigte Gliihlampen und Elektrizitats,Aktiengesellschaft, Ujpest, Hungary Application December 2, 1938, SerialNo. 243,622 In Germany December 6,1937

, 4 Claims.

My invention relates to electron valves and more especially to mixingvalves, in which, in the path through which the electrons travel, twoseparate controlling means are arranged in series.

It is one object of my invention to provide an improved valve of thistype.

Recent developments have shown that mixing. valves, in which themodulator grid is arranged nearestto the cathode, are better suited formixing purposes than those types of valves, in which owing to-the secondcontrol of the electron cur rent, part of the electrons must turn roundand flow in the direction towards the cathode, which involves thefollowing disadvantages; the. transit,- time of the electrons in thedirection toward the cathode, is comparatively great so, that, whenshort waves are received, the space inside, of the anode cannot beconsidered as a stationary po-. tential space, so that the rule,according; to which no electrons can be emitted by a negative grid, isno more valid. In consequence thereof the negative biased modulator gridbecomes the, source of an obnoxious grid current.

Also the following circumstances must be noted: The electrons emittedtowards the cathode produce a space-charge between the acceleration gridand the modulator grid, whereby the first grid, which thus serves as thefirst control means, whenever its potential changes, presentsconsiderable variations of capacity, while on the other hand the inputimpedance depending on the transit-time of the electrons becomes toosmall. Finally also the stability of frequency of the hexode valves wasunsatisfactory, since the variations of voltage at the first controlgrid, owing to the electrons accumulating before the second controlgrid, bring about changes of capacity of this second grid.

The present invention concerns an electron valve which is adapted toobviate all these drawbacks. The essence of this invention consiststherein that in an electron valve with double control occurring inseries in the electron path the second control is effected with the aidof a means However, the type, of: valves,

(Cl. 250-275) r 1 which causes the electrons to. be deflected}, how},

ever not to'be reversed. These deflecting, means. preferably have. theform of metal rods. or of metal plates, extending radially-inrelationtothe cathode axis In a preferred embodimentof: the

invention apertures areformedin. the anodeplate,

the axis of symmetry of which apertures as Well. as the axis ofsymmetry. of the cathode extend. in the plane of the deflecting platementioned; I prefer so designing these apertures thatv above. the slopeof theanode current, relative to. the voltage of the first grid isas.far as possible linearly connected with the voltage of ithe deflecting,

plate. 'I'his is arranged for the purpose of filter.

ing the harmonics of an even order. I further prefer .to arrangecollecting screens in front of or in or to the rear of the apertures ofthe anode. In the drawing affixed togthisv specification fourembodiments of my invention are illustrated diagrammaticallyby way ofexample,

"Fig. I is. a diagrammatic showing of one embodiment. of the invention,while.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate diagrammatically various modificationsthereof.

Referring to the drawing, the cathode, in the modificationshown in Fig.1, is marked I;12 isa normal control grid (modulator grid), 3 a socalledacceleration grid having a positive po lential, while 4 are thedeflecting plates which. render possible the second control (oscillatorcontrol), As shown in the drawing, these plates extend in the directionof travel ef the electrons, so that the change of potential ofthe-deflecting plates can only cause the electrons tochangethei-rdirection, i. e., a deflection, however not a reversal of thisdirection. 5 is the anode formed with the apertures l5, while 6 arebaflies.

The operation of this valve is substantially as follows: The electronsemerging from the cathode are subjected by the grid 2 to the firstcontrol which occurs in the usual manner. The role played by theacceleration electrode 3 is selfexplanatory. The electrons thereafterreach the of the apertures, without reaching the baflles.-

Obviously the fact that the electrons are not re- ,TENT' or ies 2 theoscillation to be received, a multiplicative mixing.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated I in Fig. 2, similarreference numerals designate similar parts. The grid 1 is anacceleration grid, which serves for electrical screening and thereforepreferably has a positive potential. 8 'is' a suppressor grid having anegative potential, 'so

that it may for instance be electrically connected with the cathode. 9is the gridlike structure which serves for preventing the mutualsecondary emission between the anode and the collecting screen. I preferproviding this grid 9 with a mesh-like arrangement in order to preventany accumulation of electrons. It should be noted that in the valvesaccording to my invention the anode current cannot merely be drawn fromthe anode, but also simultaneously from the anode and the baffles; inthat case the two parts should be connected in a push-pull circuit. IIis a particularly useful form of the grid bars of the first grid, whichenable the entire bundle of electrons to pass through the apertures ofthe anode without impinging on the anode. I can obtain this effect bymeans of rods of a corresponding thickness and/or by means of screeningplates.

In a third embodiment of the new valve illustrated in Fig. 3 the twodeflecting plates 4 are not. directly connected with each other. Herethe deflecting plate may be controlled in pushpull in order to filterthe harmonics of an even order. For this purpose the anodes should bearranged as shown in Fig. 3, where theanode plates are split up at I andI0 and the two parts 5a and 5b of the anodes are electrically connectedwith the opposite baffles, 50. being connected with 61), 5b with Go.Thus the two parts of the anode are connected in push-pull. In aparticularly useful embodiment of the valve according to this inventionalso an oscillator system is arranged in the same tube, and the twosystems mayhave the cathode in common. In such'composite tubes the anodeof the oscillator systems may also be electrically connected with thedeflecting plates.

The embodiment according to Fig. 4 is intended to improve the spreading.To this end the arrangement of parts above described is provided for sixor eight times on the circumference of the electrode system.

Fig. 4 shows a fourfold arrangement in a valve which otherwisecorresponds to the one shown in Fig. l, but in which, instead of two,four deflecting plates 4 and four baffles 6 are provided, while theanode consists of four parts 25 separated by four apertures 15. Onprinciple this arrangement acts similarly as the one shown in Fig. 1,but, owing to the greater number of control organs, its efficiency isgreater.

Various changes may be made in the details disclosed in the foregoingspecification without departing from the invention or sacrificing theadvantages thereof.

. I claim:

,1. An electronic mixing valve comprising in combination, a cathode, afirst control means being a space-charge control and including a gridsurrounding said cathode and adapted to receive the signal voltages tobe amplified, a second control means comprising a positively chargedmember arranged in series with said first control means in the electronstream and adapted to receive the local oscillator voltages whereby todeflect the electrons without reversing their direction of flow, ananode comprising an aperture and a baflie arranged opposite saidaperture surrounding said second control means but spaced from saidpositively charged member in radial direction with respect to saidcathode, said grid including grid bars adapted to permit the entireelectron current to pass said aperture.

2. The electron valve of claim 1, in which the second control means is ametallic deflecting plate radially disposed with relation to the cathodeaxis, and the anode is a plate formed with an aperture, one axis ofsymmetry of which as well as the axis of symmetry'of the cathode extendin the plane of the deflecting plate.

3. The electron valve of claim 1, in which the second control means is ametallic deflecting plate radially disposed with relation to the cathodeaxis, and the anode is a plate formed with an aperture, one axis ofsymmetry of which as well as the axis of symmetry of the cathode extendin the plane of the deflecting plate, a baffle being arranged near theaperture and a mesh-like grid between the anode and the baflie.

4. The electron valve of claim 1, in which the second control means is ametallic deflecting plate radially disposed with relation to the cathodeaxis, while a screen grid having a positive potential is arrangedbetween the anode and the deflecting plate.

ERNo WINTER.

